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Savings help Leominster schools close budget gap

By Peter Jasinski, pjasinski@sentinelandenterprise.com

Updated:
06/01/2016 12:54:51 AM EDT

LEOMINSTER -- With the help of projected revenues and newfound savings being carried over into next school year, School Committee members believe they have closed the gap on funding the fiscal 2017 budget.

"We are able to keep all of our '16 services intact for '17. There will be no teacher layoffs or cuts that affect student services," Finance Subcommittee Chair Kristin Howlett said Tuesday night.

Since the committee's last meeting, the district has found that $400,000 from insurance costs savings, coupled with a projected $1.3 million in revenue brought in by out-of-district students, will stave off any deficit for 2017.

Since the district has found ways to make up for costs on its own, Howlett said the School Committee will no longer have to go to the city to ask for the additional $500,000 in funding that had been discussed during a May 23 Finance Subcommittee meeting.

The money from out-of-district students and insurance savings will close a nearly $1 million gap that exists between the projected revenue and expenditures for fiscal 2017.

The district was also able to find additional savings through cuts to overtime and substitute teacher costs, as well as other money being carried over between school years through the district's revolving funds.

Members of the School Committee have been working to close the budget gap since the earliest draft of the fiscal 2017 budget was presented to the committee in March.

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As district Business Manager Dan Deedy explained during Tuesday's meeting, the district is facing greater financial strain due to the cost-of-living adjustments granted to teachers when new contracts were agreed upon in October.

"With the salary budget, the bump is a result of the COLA adjustments, but also the addition of costs that were cut in fiscal 2016 to align the budget with the city numbers," he said, adding that the adjustments meant the district had to add $2.7 million to the fiscal 2017 budget.

During Monday night's public hearing to discuss the budget, multiple students and parents got up to voice their budget concerns. Most public comments were focused on not cutting any teaching positions and the importance of maintaining the Leominster Center for Excellence.

Although a public hearing was held, members of the School Committee did not hold a final vote to sign off on the budget. Instead they chose to push the vote until a meeting scheduled for June 6.

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